midnight moscow time these are the headlines tonight prism says america's own poor human rights record means it can lecture others as moscow responds to washington's decision to sanction russian diplomat. in the past. has promised massive new leaks in twenty thirty that he's called on his supporters to challenge those who seek to silence whistleblowers as the wiki leaks founder is delivered his christmas message we catch up with that very shortly our correspondent is there listening in. on the u.k. reveals the war in afghanistan has cost more than seven hundred billion times but that figure expected to rise before british troops are withdrawn.

alone a very good evening chief you've just joined us here in moscow my name's kevin zero in coming to you from the r.t. new center but i'm a poet and slammed america's human rights record citing indefinite detention and sanctioned torture in overseas presence while speaking to journalists the president defended moscow's response to the washington's decision to sanction russian officials. listen to what president putin at a sec. the president slammed the monied ski act passed recently by american lawmakers saying that it's a continuation of a series of anti russian laws like the jacks and then it act which was abolished recently and putin says that the us as a country which is still uses prisons like i will agree with one time all were good relations of human rights have been on

a daily basis has no rights to criticize the human rights situation in russia at your. our u.s. partners and their lawmakers say they are concerned about human rights in our prisons and that's fine of course but there are plenty of issues they have themselves abu ghraib and guantanamo where for years people have been detained without charge it's inconceivable prisoners walk around in chains like in the middle ages they've legalized torture inside their own country if something like that happened here it would cause an international outcry but it all remains quiet in the us we've heard plenty of promises to close guantanamo but it's still there it's still operating maybe there is still torture going on there secret cia prisons has anyone been brought to account and they're pointing at our problems well thank you we're aware of that making this the ground for passing anti russian laws it's

something absurd and we have a no way provoked such action but russia lawmakers are currently working on what they say will be a proportionate response to the money scale act and part of the plan is to introduce a ban for americans to adopt russian children. this has been causing quite a lot of debate in russia and the president has commented on that saying that adoption and the problem with it is that it's not in the cases of abuse. russian children adopted by american foster parents of but the lack of a proper legal reaction from american authorities to prevent them from reoccurring including the lack of serious punishments in light of the n.t. government protests which have been continuing for around a year now the president was also asked a question implying that he's managed to build an author retain a regime in the country during his time in power let's listen to the president's reply. was that be i believe that we've provided stability which is the perec was

it for the development of our country i believe it's a very important things to eat. but i wouldn't call it authoritarian i can't agree with such an opinion but the most prominent example proves my point which it was my decision to take to the sidelines after two terms as president if i thought that to tell the terry and or authoritarian systems would be the most preferable for our country i just changed the constitution to another issue touched upon at the conference was russia stands on the carpet in syria the president stressed once again that moscow does not support president assad's regime but it also doesn't want to see syria drown in care os and a civil war for the next two years with which he says it's only up to the syrian people to decide what sort of a political future that he wants and they want to see in control of their country you know we are not concerned about the faith of assad's regime we understand what's going on there the family has been in power for forty years and undoubtedly

there's demand for change but we're concerned about what happens next in the country and we just don't want ongoing strife between today's opposition if it takes power and the current government if they become the opposition and this can't go on forever now on a lighter note which is also denied speculation that he's been experiencing some problems with his health and has also answered a question were bothering millions of people right now about the end of the world well the russian president says he knows when the world will end according to him that will happen in a few billion years one of the sun stop shining some of these are some of the more serious and less serious issues touched upon at the conference which lasted around four and a half hours continuing the president's tradition of these extended press and included over twelve hundred journalists from different parts of russia and from abroad. they go piskun often good to know the will is not ending just yet and i

think now the man on the front line of the information by. little wiki leaks edited julie the science making headlines again tonight he says the whistleblowing site will reveal more data in twenty thirteen a lot of it too calling what he had to say is live a christmas message from the balcony of the ecuadorian embassy in london in the last worries but ensconced of course for the last six months after being granted political asylum listening in artie's laura smith i laura this is pretty much anticipated isn't it. there's going to be some embarrassing revelations for various governments around the world in the next year according to him you know. that's right he did promise that he would that he had already prepared a million documents related to every country around the world so so we don't know whether world leaders will be quaking in their boots about that but as you say julian as always has hit the headlines again this evening and i think that's probably what this was all about you know he's holed up in this ecuadorian embassy he's been there for six months now and he really needs to make sure people know that he's still in the know that he's still working and i think that was the main

message of this speech really i am still headache forgets about me you'll still under threats really assembled here this evening have been the world's media as usual when julian assange speaks and also around one hundred will save his supporters it's been a nice that was very kind of christmassy atmosphere how with all the christmas lights just to my left down there his supporters have held accountable it as a guitar playing carol there's even been some mulled wine a lot fortunately i haven't had any and today in essence cold the crowds out here this evening a sight for sore eyes when he came out of the balcony and he made quite a poetic speech where he again thanks the ecuadorians what he called the principled ecuadorians for taking him in and also the people who kept vigil for him over the last six months here when you come down to the door and embassy there's always somebody here watching out for him across the street he says he's really been sustained by them and he's also very inspired by the two hundred thirty two journalists who he says and now imprisoned around the world and he talked again

just as he did in august about bradley manning and the person who's been accused by the u.s. of leaking documents to wiki leaks and he said talk about the appalling conditions under which he's being held. and and then he said that the pentagon quite far from . broke from its to coming to his demands and dropping the threats against him the pentagon has really issued threats against wiki leaks saying that the existence of the very existence of wiki leaks is a crime he says that he must remain in the ecuadorian embassy while other governments refuse to. attached to a specific meeting to the u.k. government which refuses to grant him safe passage to and of course his own government the australian government but wiki leaks he said will continue working and he issued a rousing cry to his supporters let's just hear that. people often ask what can i do the answer is not so difficult learn how the world works challenge the statements and intentions of those who seek to control us

behind a facade of democracy and more nikki unite in common purpose and common principle to design document finance endorphin loon jones act now. two thousand and twelve been a busy year for wiki leaks he has written a book he's also made a show for r.t. and wiki leaks has continued to release documents but it seems that two thousand and thirteen will be no less busy as we said earlier they wiki leaks the team have prepared a million documents which they promise to release with information that he says relates to every single government around the world and he also reiterated his plans to run for the australian senate so the message here is he might be picked up inside the at the syrian embassy base certainly not resting on his laurels yeah

very much a case of watch this space is not nor will be covered of course so whatever happens next year very closely thanks very much for that pre-show to. the u.k. is reveal the staggering cost of its involvement in the war in afghanistan will the seventeen billion pound the summer's britain propose to withdraw its troops the defense secretary says the final price could be around twenty billion pounds well this comes amid public spending cuts in an effort to try to reduce the country's budget deficit. reports. seventeen billion pounds the british government has just revealed that that's been the cost of the so far eleven year war in afghanistan now it was a very deal that the same time as a clear timetable was announced for troop withdrawal from the region we're going to have u.k. troops slashed by about a half by the end of next year down to five thousand two hundred and then another large chunks of troops are leaving by the end of twenty fourteen but it's those seventeen billion pounds that are being spent that have been spent on it for the war on top of the existing defense budget which means the estimates for the final

price tag for the afghan war might be something around twenty billion pounds and of course the u.k. is going to keep sending money to afghanistan after twenty fourteen they're going to be sending something like seventeen million pounds for aid towards the afghan national security forces after twenty fourteen and this is all at the same time as the government announcing prolonged or sarah here at home that's going to continue until at least twenty seven hundred twenty eighteen and the chancellor announcing that there's going to. welfare cuts and an extra ten billion pounds slashed from the welfare budget along with cuts in every single other government department now i'm joined by john hillery who is the executive director of and he probably charities more on want seventeen billion pounds down the line about money have been better spent elsewhere you could hardly really think of any worse way of spending the money as you say if you pointed out here in britain we're seeing

a normal is cuts to government spending and to the world for budgets about twenty five billion pounds in total which actually it's almost the same as being spent in the war in afghanistan but in afghanistan itself the impact of the war has been disastrous defense spending can be just after this is seventeen billion pounds over and above the existing british defense but you even before you start a program it's clear that over seventy percent of people in. britain wanted the water be ended immediately or very very soon it's a completely unpopular war people in britain want to the troops out people in afghanistan also want the troops out and now we're being faced with these massive cuts on top of that people are really angry about the fact that the waters continue for the british people want to still try to destroy the horrible legacy of invasion and occupation which they've lived with for the last thirty years now already the defense secretary has said that parts of afghanistan won't be under government

control and so that means a lot more questions from the british taxpayers about the eleven years spent fighting the war and the twenty billion pound price tag for at. a one of a team in london thanks for. coming out with me kevin always time magazine names barack obama person of the year for a second time but critics say the u.s. president has to take stronger action issues such as gun control very much in the spotlight right now of course sadly it's just one of many stories ahead after this break. i never thought i could earn a living messmate. natale issue of i as a lawyer should test small arms of the sort i was to machine building plant not only a source count of all the weapons she's fired over the past twelve years. i got so used to it sometimes my friends ask me to join them at the rifle range and i say no

way i'm so tired of shooting. the plants history goes from making firearms during world war two to ballistic missiles from your class submarines during the cold war the bulk of the soviet industry was moved here in the 1940's to flee the advancing germans so if you were also became the heart of soviet military production closed off to foreigners for half a century it thrived on the massive roots of the soviet military when the u.s.s.r. collapsed but life here was shaken to the core but some adapted to better than others. this is the truck factory russia's number one truck maker or gravel look at how well the workplace is organized everything's done to make sure the workers don't waste time waiting there was old production is booming in the factory has largely managed to get on to civil rails these giants are sold around the globe hey arbors a brand new breed now wait for it to be delivered to

a client seventy trucks like this one roll up the bronx conveyor belt every day blog about this things that absolutely huge. well i'm no formula one pilot but hopefully if i can get that. well i can go far to. well i was wrong to get one of these to travel to whatever it was with the cost of about forty thousand dollars i should start saving money. for the. science technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia

. the future covered. on the edge of human capability. struggling with a dream. to become. a force. in. gridlock. to build a most sophisticated. mission to teach creation why it should care about humans. this is why you should care.

again it was dramatic. to walk free from prison earlier than expected moscow course a jail term for the former tycoon in his business part of platon lebedev they've been serving time for oil theft of money laundering. the present terms for the two goons were reduced due to a change in russia's prison penal code sensually there's hundreds of thousands of russian businessmen are believed to be serving behind bars for various financial crimes as a result of the russian government had decided to soften somewhat its penal code when it comes to those financial crimes of course this case is no ordinary one it's one of the most high profile cases in recent years in russia back in early two thousand the government had accused the two former yukos oil partners of tax evasion yukos was then the largest oil firm in the country it went bankrupt at the assets were taken over by russia snapped and this has prompted many in the west to . accuse the country of

a politically motivated case these are charges that moscow of course denies now before the two men had finished serving their sentences in two thousand and ten a moscow court had given them fresh prison charges this time over accusations of money laundering as well as the charge of stealing more than thirty billion u.s. dollars worth of oil despite this had become somewhat of a poster boy for the russian opposition which says that his continued imprisonment is evidence of the russian state's control over the judiciary despite all this of course that the thursday appeal hearing the court had ruled that the men will be able to walk free by two thousand and fourteen lebedeff will be able to go around august and is expected to be released by october. to protest march annoyed to all the streets of spain again as madrid has gathered of. the budget there's been rising tension in recent days ahead of the deal which is expected to make savings of around thirty nine billion euros people are frustrated with cuts to

their health care and education as well as the government breaking its promise to raise pigeons along with inflation but madrid's refusing to ask for aid from his neighbors try to look over told me a bailout for spain could lead to the breakup of the eurozone. they had managed to do all of that arced measures taken in the first year he would have understood it set the stage in doing it by a little. too much and everybody is going to blame then for the first year because actually being the previous government doing different. voices a spanish bailout because they know that it's too big to bail out and if they really have to risk it end of the year it. seems to be a real risk which. they're just trying to time and we're still on the road to bankruptcy court and eventually a breakup of the euro. or a lot more stories on the web site r.t. dot com for you that's one in twenty four seven tonight let's take

a look violating the battle leading human rights watchdog says israel broke the laws of war by targeting civilians and media in gaza during last month's military operation on an online but it made the never the u.k. finally agrees as we report to honor the british veterans of the arctic convoys which carried crucial supplies to russia during world war two. it's a mixed reaction over time magazine's decision to them barack obama person of the year for a second time the u.s. president gave the award for becoming what they call the symbol an architect of a new america at the end of his enthusiasm for the u.s. leaders and shared by all americans many remain convinced i'm convinced rather his actions including domestic matters such as gun control vary in the spotlight right now and he's going to change you can report. they're choosing president obama as the person of the year second time the first time they gave him the title right after the two thousand and eight election as to someone who had the most influence

on global affairs although at that time he hadn't had the time to exercise all that influence but then president obama also received the nobel peace prize in two thousand and nine ers shortly after his election although again at that point he hadn't made much peace in the world the award was seen as much more of an advance credit then and acknowledgement of actual achievements on the peace front later president obama went on to spend that credit sending more troops to afghanistan and carrying out regime change in libya under the arguable banner war for the sake of peace as far as his person of the year titled critics argue president obama was time's choice by default there shortlist this year also included the egyptian leader mohamed morsi and the pakistani girl malala yousafzai who was shot by the taliban for advocating for women's education president obama may be the person of the year for the time magazine but for advocates of gun control in the u.s.

he still has to earn that title president obama had a news conference where he was asked why no meaningful action has been taken on gun control in the last four years of his presidency although one of his campaign pledges was a ban on assault weapons he basically said he had lots of other things to do including waging two wars and quote it's not like i've been on vacation he said those in the u.s. who suffered in numerous incidents of gun violence would probably not be satisfied with such an answer but the president pledged to finally take more active steps in the coming months he said the administration will come up with a more definitive proposal on gun control but people have heard those words before and nothing happened and getting a semiautomatic weapon is not a problem in the u.s. adam lanza who killed twenty small children and. six adults at an elementary school last week fired from a semi-automatic bushmaster rifle it's a military style rifle a powerful weapon and its sales are on the rise in the u.s.

in the last four years the market for such guns grew thirty percent i thought it was not to miss janet he says the actions and policies of the u.s. president speak louder than the judge's words. time magazine's editors giving me giving him the award can only be you can only guess impute whatever motive a have to them in terms of what he's actually done we have to look at his policies in terms of workers getting jobs nothing in terms of giving people who are in foreclosure relief not much in terms of peace making he started more wars than george bush and so you know we have to look at his policy rather than what some magazine who may be going to the f.c.c. or some other regulatory agency for relief for the many t.v. stations the time inc owns rather than that we need to look at his policy well go back to two thousand and eight when he was given supposedly because of the influence he had an international affairs and within four weeks of receiving that

said he had no comment about israel's war on gaza that ended up killing fifteen hundred civilians it's pretty meaningless and the thing that's most revealing is they themselves pulled an electoral college over a popular vote scam when they said it's the editor's choice and not the people but the people voting for the president of north korea over the president the united states. well new to brief syrian rebels claim they've made significant advances single sees as many as sixty in the hama region the opposition forces also say they've liberated a palestinian refugee camp in damascus after seizing it on me while the u.s. launched a huge humanitarian effort by announcing a one and a half billion dollar aid package for refugees suffering from a twenty one month old conflict. egypt's top prosecutor has retracted monday's offer to resign as the country gears up for saturday's second round of voting on that controversial constitution there was public discontent of the morsi sacked him predecessor last month did one of his first moves after graphic of self sweeping

powers the justice minister will now decide the prosecutor's fate the country's divided over the constitution with opponents fearing the documents rushed it will limit their rights by creating an islamist state. prosecutors in italy demanding a one year prison sentence now for former prime minister silvio berlusconi the charges relate to his alleged role in revealing transcripts of private conversations in a newspaper owned by media empire back in two thousand and five a discussion between leading italian politician and a financial company president apparently was a legally but a scary denies those charges lawyers suggested the courts want to rush the verdict to negatively impact his chances of returning as prime minister in february selection. thanks for being with us tonight just after twenty five minutes past midnight moscow time as culture with a touch of scotch joins me in the studio with the business update of course tonight nice to see again and the president. yesterday and looking ahead to twenty thirty

the addressing what russia's going to do in twenty thirty well one of the key issues of course is stopping massive capital flying and trying to bring at least some of this money to the big headline maker of this year was absolutely and it continues to be so that's one of the issues he addressed and we'll talk about all the others in the business just a couple of minutes after the break. it's. wealthy british style. guide to life.

markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines june n two kinds a report on r g.

i.

hello you're watching business hearty welcome to the program as we have been reporting and president vladimir putin has held a four and a half hour news conference on thursday touching on something.